The Nutty Pipsqueaks

The Nutty Pipsqueaks

An old zoo elephant has a butt load of peanuts, but isn't too eager to share them. One o the peanuts rolls into Ralph's home (which is surprisingly right next door to the elephant's area in the zoo), eats some of it, and tries to fin out where it came from. He does and tries to get away with a few, but before he can, the old elephant sees him and blasts him out of his exhibit. Benny the squirrel also finds out about the peanuts, but winds up the same way Ralph did, getting kicked out. Then the two meet and decide to hatch up many different plans to get even with the pompous pachyderm!



Ralph and Benny might actually make good partners. With their personalities combined, it'd be like a small, furry version of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope's partnership.

Bellhop Monkey

Bellhop Monkey

Gordo's a bellhop at a hotel. He has a nasty reputation amongst his customers thanks to his temper, so his boss tells him if he can't control hos temper, he'll get fired. So the capuchin is forced to adopt the "the customer's always right" policy so he won't get canned. It just so happens Benny's his next guest at the hotel, so of course, he takes complete advantage of the hapless monkey. Benny heckles Gordon until he finally loses his cool. The monkey gets fired, but revenge is oh, so sweet.

Based on the Donald Duck cartoon, Bellboy Donald. This'll probably be the only one that Benny will "lose" in the end.

The Oddball Duckling

The Oddball Ducking

Based on Hans Christian Anderson's "The Ugly Duckling" story, only with a platypus that immediately gets rejected by his foster parents and siblings, but manages to find his own kind and acceptance in the end.

This is supposed to be a real heart-warmer with no dialogue at all. Instead, the short is driven with music and actions to set the mood. Sort of like something out of Fantasia. I'm trying to think of one piece of classical music to go along with this story throughout. Any suggestions?

Smart-Alec-Kazam!

Smart-Alec-Kazam!

Benny the squirrel works at a "Guess-Your-Weight" stand at a local carnival. He's not getting a lot of business. When he sees a want ad for a rabbit assistant to a much more popular magician, he takes full advantage of it! First, the squirrel fools the magician into thinking he's a rabbit thanks to a clever disguise and a convincing act. Then Benny gets sweet revenge by messing up the act or heckling with the magician. This goes on until Benny's "ears" fall off. He thankfully escapes the magician's wrath with a few more tricks up his sleeve.

Pint-Sized Pachyderm

Now that I've covered all the characters, I can now start on stories! :D

Pint-Sized Pachyderm.

Fred the crocodile and Lenny the hippo are bums at the end of their rope. One day, they find an ad in the newspaper about a $50000 prize for catching the world's smallest elephant. After seeing the ad, they apply together for a job with the San Diego Zoo to catch the rare elephant. They are hired and travel to Africa to make their catch. They find the elephant they're looking for, but fail with each attempt to catch it. When they finally capture the little elephant, they find out there's a smaller one they missed!

This'll probably be the "pilot" for the series. Even though they lost this round, they still have lots of other critters to catch!

Spooky Cookie

Meet Spooky Cookie, the cartoon ghost of Harry Caray (Spooky's drawings are on the far right.). After death, Spooky had been condemned to live in haunted houses and occasionally the Wrigley Fields Stadium in Chicago. He has been pixelated and slap-happy ever since. He love hot dogs, the Chicago Cubs, baseball, and rambling for hours on random subjects sometimes toi the point where it's irrelevant or he simply loses his place. Spooky absolutely hates every other baseball team.

Spooky Cookie is, of course, based on Harry Caray. I'm currently thinking about him as a one-shot character, but I'll wait and see if he's popular enough with the audience to be a star player.

Rocky

Meet Rocky, a raccoon who plays as another one of Benny's sneaky and deceiving rivals. Unlike Gordon, who loses his temper quite a bit, Rocky is more composed, almost as smooth as a movie gangster. Almost. Unlike Gordon, Rocky is not very stubborn. He also seems to underestimate Benny's intelligence a lot with a very cocky attitude, even if Benny kicks his butt with his energetic antics.

Rocky is actually based on the song, "Rocky Raccoon", by the Beatles. To add to the joke, he talks in a Liverpool accent like John Lennon or Ringo Starr.

Rocky's entrance theme:



Song: Cell 501 by Gerhard Trede.

I may go back and make character themes in a future posts. :)

Pete

Meet Pete, a puffin that can be quite a smart ass. He's supposed to be a heckler like Benny, but his personality and style is based on the late comedian Groucho Marx. Pete also has a huge appetite for fish and will go out of his way to try and get his favorite dish however he can. Unlike the other hecklers I made, Pete's also a bargainer that tries to bargain and gamble his way out of trouble.

His arch-nemesis, an unnamed Arctic fox, tries to catch the bird for dinner however he can. I based the fox's personality on Captain Hook in Disney's "Peter Pan".

Lionel

Meet Lionel, a Siamese cat who simply loves the good life. He loves to act tough and mean, but it's easy for a dog, or Ralph, to call his bluffs. After all, he's really a scaredy-cat deep down. Lionel is very gullible and sort of a hypochondriac and superstitious. He often gets jealous if there is a new pet in his house, even if it's a mouse. And if there's one thing he hates, it's dogs. (Especially terriers!) He's not very bright, but he is somehow musically gifted. In one cartoon, he'll learn that he is surprisingly good at playing the Hammond organ.

Here is Lionel playing his favorite song to play on the Hammond organ.

Chilé

Meet Chilé, a chinchilla with a very fiery personality. Like Ralph, Chilé is very friendly. He is vey fun-loving, always has a ball no matter where he is. He has a high energy level and loves to dance and samba. Chilé also likes to run because of his metabolism, but is clumsy and constantly trips over his tail. Chilé is also a hopeless romantic who loves the senoritas very much. And believe me, they love him. His nationality is Mexican.

I got the idea for him after watching "Saludos Amigos" and "The Three Caballeros", two Disney films that involve Latin American culture.